


Somewhere I Have Never Traveled

by Mia_Zeklos



Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-11 21:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2083404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mia_Zeklos/pseuds/Mia_Zeklos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having just left Donna back on Earth after the Dalek invasion, the Doctor realises that his relations to the planet below are hardly finished as he picks up a signal he had never expected to see again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have absolutely no excuse for this. None at all. Actually, the last thing I need to start now is another Time Lord!Ianto fic, but the urge is strong, so I’m doing it. Unlike the other two universes I’ve written it, though (and both of them could fit in a future canon by stretch) this one is completely AU and also takes an entirely different direction. Thus being said, be warned: There’s a very mild Jack-bashing in this chapter, so be prepared for that.  
> The chapters are based a challenge in livejournal, using nine colours and a list of prompts, from which I choose one.

**_ Colour: Pink _ **

**_ Prompt: Hot Pink _ **

**__ **

“Are you sure that this is an– adequate choice for the occasion?” The Doctor asked, scratching the back of his head. Ianto’s shirt was an alarmingly bright pink and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stare at it for too long, let alone let him out in it, especially in the time period they had landed in. Ianto threw him a glance in the mirror. “It’s my everyday wear. Is it a problem?”

 

He seemed worried all of a sudden and the Doctor sighed. Ianto seemed like the person to do that a lot – try not to mess up even when he had hardly opened his mouth yet.

 

Several days after he’d seen the Torchwood Hub on the screen during the Dalek invasion, Ianto had been restoring the parts of their base that had been destroyed which, naturally, had led to fiddling with his own possession, just to check if everything was where it was supposed to be, and that itself had make dim find his own old pocket watch.

 

The Doctor had been called as soon as the shock had passed – shock that had been mostly for Ianto’s colleagues and not the recently woken up Time Lord. Gwyneth – Gwen, actually, the Doctor had confused the name several times before getting it right – had accepted it rather easily. She’d been curious, sympathetic of the alien suddenly taking her friend’s place and had pointed out the obvious – that the human Ianto wasn’t all that different from the new one. He was happier, more alive and Gwen had welcomed it, so Ianto had taken great joy in telling her everything she’d wanted to know about his home world and the places he’d visited.

 

The same couldn’t be said about Jack. He’d closed himself in his office and had refused to come out for two days and when he did reappear, he’d been cold, almost cruel to Ianto, treating him like there was an invasion right under his nose. He had asked several brief questions – why had Ianto come to Earth in the first place (a penalty of some sort, as it turned out, and one the Doctor hadn’t heard of because he hadn’t been on Gallifrey for too long in the last days before the War, which was exactly when Ianto had been punished – even though he refused to say what he had done to deserve it), whether the human in him was ever likely to return (the answer had been a firm ‘no’) and what would Ianto do now (he’d said he wanted to travel and then had looked at the Doctor timidly, adding, ‘If you’d take me, of course’). Then, things between the two of them had ended without anyone really saying a thing. Ianto – even the Time Lord Ianto – loved Jack enough to stay but not enough to play human for him and Jack had suddenly ended up with a complete stranger in his arms – and, to make things worse, it was a stranger from a species the Captain had seen nothing good of – and he had no clue what to do with him, so the only thing that had kept Ianto around – except for packing up the few important things he wanted to take – had been saying his goodbyes to Gwen.

 

It had been an emotional affair and the Doctor had tried to give them some privacy, but even that way he’d heard that Ianto offered her to come with them. From what he’d heard, she’d been tempted but had refused anyway – something about her husband and Jack and the general protection of the planet – so he had pulled her up into an embrace, closing his eyes and kissing her forehead, murmuring a final goodbye before he abruptly turned around and strode into the TARDIS without looking back.

 

The Doctor pulled himself out of his thoughts when Ianto turned to face him, a small smile hiding at the corners of his lips. “I thought it was the perfect colour to start an adventure with.” His eyes and his expression were completely serious and yet the Doctor sensed the joke in his words.

 

“Maybe, yeah, but I’m not really sure it’d be a good idea for 1903 in London.”

 

Ianto raised an eyebrow and now he looked decidedly amused. “I thought we were going to the forty-first century in the Tarelia Galaxy. What happened?”

 

The Doctor looked down at his feet, suddenly uncomfortable – and damn Ianto for being one of the few people who could actually make him feel _humble_. The TARDIS generally took him where she pleased and he didn’t get much of a say in it, and he highly suspected that Ianto knew it. “Does it matter? The Edwardian Era is much more fun.” At this point, he took a rather meaningful look at Ianto’s clothes, trying to bring him back to the matter at hand.

 

The smile on the younger Time Lord’s face grew wider as he followed the Doctor’s gaze, and there was a twinkle in his eyes the Doctor had rarely seen. Most of companions were humans who had no real idea of just how _big_ the Universe could be. For Ianto, it was something natural and the Doctor relished in the feeling of having someone like that on board for the first time since Romana. “You know, Jack used to say that a pink shirt is appropriate at all times and–” Suddenly, Ianto cut himself off and the smile vanished as quickly as it had arrived. “Actually, never mind. You’re right, I better change it.”

 

“No,” the Doctor said quickly and his fingers closed over Ianto’s as he viciously yanked at the first button. Ianto’s eyes had gone back to their usual reserve and he wanted to see the little amused flames in them again. “No, it’s very– dashing. Who knows, you might start a new wave of colour in men’s fashion. It’s all very monochromatic in this time period.”

 

Ianto’s face lit up and the Doctor absent-mindledly thought that it was worth it to stand the ungodly colour if he could see that expression more often. “I know. Do I get to have a top hat?”

 

The Doctor gave a sort laugh. Ianto was – in both human and Time Lord terms – very young and now that he was himself entirely, he was easily distracted and yet exceptionally intelligent, which was a surprisingly good combination. He stored all kinds of information in his head and right now the Doctor could see in his eyes that the question had been genuine.

 

“Sure you can,” he said and, as he gave Ianto directions for the wardrobe, he realised for probably the first time that they could be quite good for one another.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, chapter two. There are references to two books – one about the third doctor and one about Ten and Martha during their travels where they met said creature.

**_ Colour: Red _ **

**_ Prompt: Red sky in morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailors’ delight. _ **

**__ **

“That can’t be good,” Ianto said warily as soon as they came out of their cabin. “Look at the sky.”

 

The Doctor squinted against the rising sun. It was blood red, but he couldn’t understand Ianto’s troubles. “Blood was spilled last night? We already know that.”

 

Ianto rolled his eyes. “No. You know the saying, don’t you? Red sky at morning, sailors take warning and all that.”

 

The Doctor scoffed. “You most of all should know that that’s rubbish. Humans just like to think that since they can’t control the weather they can at least predict it. Every nation had some form of omens when it came to that and none of them were even remotely close to home.”

 

They had received strange readings on the TARDIS last night and had followed the coordinates only to end up on a Viking ship – or, actually, near one – while the passengers got ready to leave. There had been no one in visible need of help so they had introduced themselves as brothers – which had raised a few eyebrows – and had joined the already numerous crowd on board of a rather primitive, if outstanding for its time, ship that consisted of people from several different countries that were all in search of the same thing – Vinland, which had been mentioned by the current leader of the expedition – Leif Erikson – on some of his earlier travels.

 

There hadn’t been much time for explanations and snooping around because, almost as soon as they had left Norway, there had been dinner and then everyone had gone to bed. Erikson had generously given them a spare room that would have quite possibly been too small for one, let alone two grown men. Ianto, though, had curled on his side, taking as little space as e possibly could, and had then promptly fallen asleep.

 

“Have you ever worked for UNIT?” The Doctor asked now and Ianto turned to him with an inquisitive expression on his face. “In no relation to the weather,” he added.

 

“No, I haven’t.” Ianto’s voice still had a confused note to it. “Why are you asking?”

 

“It’s nothing, really. I was just thinking about last night. You seem to have some sort of military training – it looks like a habit for you.”

 

Ianto laughed mirthlessly, his eyes still focused on the horizon. “Back when I worked at One, I was Yvonne’s favourite lab rad. She hired me because Torchwood picked up my psychic energy from the other end of the city, so she figured out that my mind was harder to break than the normal person’s, and she indented to do all sorts of curious things with me. She liked to see how long I could endure it without snapping.”

 

The Doctor could feel a shiver running down his spine as he asked quietly, “What did she do?”

 

The small, sardonic smile was still there. “Everything she could think of. Retcon resistance. Hypnosis too, as well as mental shields practice. She then liked to test how good I was at resisting all of that, preferably at the same time, so that meant Retconning me single-handedly, pushing against my shields until I was forced to fight her as a defence measure...” He faced the Doctor once again, his eyes completely hiding any emotion to such an extent that the older Time Lord could barely recognise him. “Everything you can think of, she did it.”

 

The Doctor didn’t quite know what to say and Ianto didn’t seem to need it, because he kept going, voice completely different from the pained whisper it had been seconds ago, “Anyway, the sky. I’m pretty sure it meant trouble.”

 

The Doctor frowned. “Not really. _That_ , though, that surely means trouble.” He held his screwdriver up and it let out the same signal as before – three brief beeps, three long ones, and then three short again. “The universal distress call, but it’s way out of its time.”

 

Ianto nodded briskly, then extended his arm for the screwdriver, giving the Doctor a questioningly look. “May I?”

 

The Doctor passed it to him, not without some hesitation, and Ianto smiled as he started fiddling with the settings, turning thing on and off and spinning other things around, and the Doctor found himself staring at his companion with something that closely resembled awe. Ianto was working quietly, without any pretences or pride, and there was a little frown of concentration that made it all the more endearing. He’d missed this, he realised – to have another one of his kind by his side; someone who could keep up without even trying. Ianto was young, so the Doctor supposed that he ought to be protective and fatherly and yet, there was something else. Something about the look in Ianto’s eyes that made him think that he was not only fully capable of taking care of himself, but that he’d also take charge of anything he had to without thinking twice about it or–

 

“Doctor?” Ianto’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “What is it?” the Doctor asked, crouching by Ianto’s side and frowning at the light on top of the screwdriver. “What’s wrong?”

 

“What time is it?” Ianto’s voice was quiet and strained and his eyes were wandering about – assessing, thinking, trying to imagine their position on the ship from above.

 

“Well,” the Doctor looked up, shielding his eyes from the red sunrise. “Norway in the spring; sunrise should be in about eight in the morning.”

 

Ianto nodded slowly and his eyes locked with the Doctor’s. “Then why are we the only people here?”

 

Just as the realisation creeped into the Doctor’s mind, the ship around them filled with all the sounds it was meant to at this hour – the laughter of the children, as few as they were here, and the creaking of the woo under their feet as men and women moved around, hardly noticing the pair of them. The TARDIS had made sure that they were both fit to look like part of the scenery – from their boots to the long coats that had to keep them safe from the cruel winds and also make them look like the Irish travellers they pretended to be.

 

“Now that’s– strange. Not weird yet, but we’re getting there.”

 

“You have a scale for strangeness?” The Doctor found himself asking as he snatched the screwdriver back from Ianto and started taking new readings. Strangely, everything was back to normal now.

 

Ianto nodded solemnly. “It starts with ‘interesting’ – usually reserved for dinosaurs seen on the street. Then there’s ‘intriguing’ – still dinosaurs, but alien ones. ‘Doo-lally’ – Tosh’s favourite term – is for strange and inexplicable behaviours amongst humans. Disappearances and sudden reappearances fall under ‘strange’.”

 

“What’s weird, then?”

 

“Shapeshifters and upward. There are a lot of things I would have preferred not to remember and disposing of a corpse that looks exactly like me is in the top ten.” Ianto said as if confiding some big secret and the Doctor tried really hard not to look impressed.

 

“Really?” He said anyway. “What did the shapeshifter do?”

 

“It kissed Gwen’s husband; that’s how he knew it wasn’t me. Never mind that now,” Ianto added hastily when the Doctor looked up incredulously; ready to start questioning his life choices – or his sanity. “We need to focus.”

 

The Doctor nodded, determined. Ianto was the kind of person who could stay among the chaos without as much as ruffling his feathers and he felt strangely ready to follow whatever plan he’d thought of. “Of course. Now, Vinland. What if it’s just a country from another universe? Maybe the walls between the worlds are thin and we’re having disturbances in the Time Vortex which in itself draws out–”

 

“It’s North America.”

 

Silence suddenly reigned between them and then there was a timid, “What?”

 

“The so-called Vinland is just a Viking name for Newfoundland.” Ianto’s tone alone suggested that this was the most common fact “They thought they’d found some new place but they found the locals; even traded some goods. And all of that about four centuries before Columbus.”

 

The Doctor didn’t say anything at first – he was used to be the one delivering the information – but when Ianto didn’t look like he would continue, he prompted, “And then what?”

 

Ianto shrugged. “Nothing, really. The winter was bad. Their ships weren’t good enough and were half underwater by March The Norwegians – the ones from Greenland – got angry at the Icelanders for reasons that probably seemed logical at the time and slaughtered them all to the last child.” His companion’s voice was full of disgust as he looked at the people around them. “There was another attempt for colonising the place later but it didn’t really work – superstitions and general stress being the main reasons, I suppose – and that’s about it. I don’t remember anything alien about it at all.”

 

“You can never really spot the alien element,” the Doctor pointed out. He wanted to do some more scans, but thought that waving the sonic around probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. He had past experiences with Vikings and their so-called curses – seven lifetimes ago, really – and had no intention to have them repeated, especially when he considered the fact that Ianto would get in trouble as well. “Think about it,” he continued. “We’re alien, and we weren’t in that tale, were we Hello, sorry,” he added loudly, clearing his throat as he tried to attract the attention of a woman nearby. Ianto looked alarmed as she neared them, but the Doctor just continued smoothly. “My brother isn’t feeling too well. Is there any chance for you to leave us on the closest place you can think of?”

 

Just as Ianto hissed ‘What are you doing?’ under his breath, the woman touched his forehead and then his sides and her face contorted with concern. “He’s ice cold!”

 

“Yes, I felt that too,” the Doctor agreed wholeheartedly, thanking the naturally cold skin of his species not for the first time. “And he looks so pale–” He did, but what she didn’t know was that Ianto was unnaturally pale as it was, even though he’d been in perfect health for the bigger part of the time he’d spent with the Doctor.

 

The woman nodded eagerly and assured them that they would soon pass by Greenland and drop them off and, once he saw her turn her back, Ianto turned on him.

 

“What was _that_?” he asked in disbelief. “We can’t just leave them here!”

 

“I’ve seen this before,” the Doctor said quietly. “It’s a creature that feeds on this sort of ambitions; it’s tracking travellers all around the Universe. They’ll get out of it themselves. We have no place here and they’ll trade us as slaves. British people weren’t tolerated around by these times.”

**o.O.o**

Two days later, when they had managed to get back to the TARDIS, the Doctor watched Ianto with mild amusement as the younger Time Lord quickly took a shower and got back in his usual attire for no time and, for the first time in quite a while, felt an emotion he hadn’t expected to ever get back blossoming into him.

 Hope.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending is a bit weird, but I think you know what I’m going at here, so I’ll leave it to your interpretation. I’m kind of satisfied with this chapter, especially since it solves a question that RTD never bothered to solve, and I hope you’re going to like it, too. As always, feedback is most appreciated.

**_ Colour: Yellow _ **

**_ Prompts: ‘Good day, Sunshine!’ and ‘sickeningly sweet lemonade’ _ **

**__ **

The light in Ianto’s room suddenly intensified from the gentle, muffled glow of the TARDIS and her blinked several times, trying to clear his vision as the Doctor plopped down on his bed. “Good morning, Sunshine!” he called cheerfully and Ianto blinked some more, frowning at him. “Sod off.”

 

“N’aww, don’t be like that.” The Doctor wriggled closer to him and ignored Ianto’s attempts at pulling the blanket over his head. “I know you’ve slept only for two hours, but we’ve got work to do.” When there was no reaction, he poked Ianto in the shoulder. “Martha called.”

 

The change was immediate. Ianto sat up in the large bed, his eyes wide and full of panic. “What happened?”

 

“I’m not sure it’s anything bad,” the Doctor went on, eyeing Ianto a bit warily. He supposed that his reaction had been a bit extreme, but he’d been on board long enough to know that calls from home never meant anything good. “She just said that they needed help. Yes, they,” he repeated when Ianto raised an eyebrow. “She’s in Cardiff. You can stay in here if you’d like to,” he added carefully at the way Ianto’s face cell, but the younger Time Lord shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I miss Cardiff anyway. And I want to help.”

 

The Doctor clapped his hands. “Good! Go get dressed, then. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

 

Ianto had always been good at getting ready as quickly as possible, so he did it now in no time. The Doctor had been right, he’d only had two hours of sleep, but he found himself strangely full of energy and vaguely thought that the curiosity that was burning inside him right now resembled the one people usually reserved for staring at road accidents – unhealthy and pretty sure that it would lead to a lifetime scarring, but unable to help it.

 

He picked up one of the suits that most resembled the ones he’d had back at home, mostly because he didn’t want to freak anybody out and make himself seem even more distant than he would be anyway. Lately, he’d taken up to wearing jeans with his usual dress shirts and ties and pairing them with a mid-thigh long black jacket, and the sudden change back to the attire that he mostly wore when he was a human was sudden, but necessary.

 

He took a deep breath and got out of the wardrobe, in search of the Doctor. Of course, he’d known that he’d have to face Jack again at some point, just hadn’t expected it to be so soon. He had lost himself in the travels and the adventures so much that he had forgotten what had actually made him leave and now, as he neared the TARDIS doors with the Doctor right behind him, he realised that he wasn’t ready for it.

 

Then, after a quick nod to himself, the hesitation was gone and Ianto opened the door to the grey, rainy scenery of Cardiff Bay and the small crowd that seemed to have formed in front of the Tourist Office. Ianto frowned and, as soon as he stepped outside, heard a small noise somewhere nearby and found himself in Gwen’s embrace. Just like usual, she couldn’t even wrap her arms all the way around his shoulders and yet it was strangely endearing – and enough for him to realise that he’d missed her as he disentangled himself carefully from her grip.

 

“We thought you weren’t going to show up,” she admitted, still smiling, and Ianto returned it, waving away her concern, “Like I would. What’s happened?”

 

If it was possible, her smile grew even brighter. “Oh, we don’t have a problem. We just needed– help with something.” There was a small pause and Ianto didn’t break it. He saw with the corner of his eye that the Doctor had gone to say hi to everyone he knew and then focused back on Gwen as she got the expression people usually have when delivering delicate information. “Now, this over there – that’s Tom – is Martha’s fiancé.” She pointed to a man dressed in a suit that was leaning against the stone wall behind him. Ianto nodded, “I know. I’ve read her file. What of it?”

 

“Well, the thing is...” Gwen nibbled on her lower lip, as if unsure how to continue. “That there?” She pointed at another man, dressed in a similar suit as the first one and laughing as he greeted the Doctor. “That’s Mickey. Martha’s– other fiancé.”

 

“Oh.” Ianto paused, unsure, then grinned. “Are thy fighting for her? Cause I could set up a fight right here. We could even sell tickets.”

 

Gwen punched him in the arms god-naturedly, a small smile on her lips. “No, you idiot. They want to get married. I mean, the three of them. Together. But it’s not exactly legal here, so...”

 

“Oh, I see,” Ianto interrupted, understanding finally dawning. “They want a lift.”

 

“ _We_ want a lift,” a new voice added and Ianto’s head immediately snapped up at the expected but unfamiliar nervousness that suddenly twisted his insides. “What a wedding needs is guests, right?”

 

Jack’s eyes didn’t give anything away and that was exactly what made Ianto stand on guard. While he’d still been on Earth, jack had opened up for him quite often and now the carefully arranged polite expression was like a stab in the chest.

 

He nodded. “Right.”

 

“I – I think Martha might need my help with the dress,” Gwen said, apparently sensing the sudden tension. “Ianto, she wanted to talk to you too.”

 

“So do I, I’ve missed her,” Ianto said, briefly taking his eyes off Jack. “Tell her I’ll be there in a minute.”

 

Gwen left and Ianto wanted to call after her to save him, but it was too late. He looked up at Jack, then back at the ground, kicking the pebbles that cluttered the ground with absent-minded determination until Jack spoke.

 

“So... how long have you been on the TARDIS?”

 

Ianto shrugged. “Three, four months. I’m not sure. What about you? How much time passed here?”

 

“Almost a year.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Silence settled again and Ianto realised that he had forgotten how to talk to Jack – or, actually that he had never really done it – and that this could turn out to be very ugly if things got out of control, so he quickly asked the first thing that came to mind. “How have you been doing?”

 

“Good,” Jack said, looking back at the people in front of the Tourist Office. “Martha, Mickey and Tom came to work for me, so we’re no longer short of people, so everything’s fine. What about you?”

 

If there was one thing Ianto hated, it was small talk. And yet here he was, stuck in it with a man who he knew despised it as much as him, and neither of them was inclined to break it. “It’s all great, really.” It wasn’t a lie. “It’s– extraordinary. Everything I’ve ever dreamed of, and more.” He’d been looking at the sky – wondering if it would start pouring soon – and just happened to focus back on Jack in the wrong moment, only to see the Captain looking at him, an unguarded anguish in his eyes. He must have realised he was noticed, because he finally dropped all pretence. “You know, it’s almost painful. Looking at you like that.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like you’re a stranger. I look into your eyes and... there’s nothing. You have no idea who I am.”

 

“I have all the memories Ianto Jones had as a human,” Ianto pointed out quickly, only to have Jack give a small, exasperated laugh. “See? That’s what I’m talking about. Yes, somewhere in that detached, inhuman brain of yours Ianto Jones is still alive. But it’s too far away. I don’t know who you are. I don’t even know your name.”

 

“It’s Ianto,” he assured and Jack raised an eyebrow. “Well, the first part of it is. My whole name is a bit of a mouthful. But, if you want,” he was quiet for a moment, not sure how to pose the question, “You could come with us. It would be hard at first but I suppose that, if you want to, you could get to know me again eventually.”

 

Jack shook his head. “It would be too much,” he said quietly. “I wouldn’t be able to bear it, being near the man I love day and night and knowing that it’s not really him.”

 

Ianto grimaced. “I’m pretty sure the Doctor knows how you feel about him, and I’ll try to tell him not to be a jerk–”

 

“I wasn’t,” Jack gritted out, “talking about the Doctor.”

 

“Oh,” Ianto murmured and saw Jack’s eyes suddenly ablaze with anger.

 

“Yes, oh. Don’t act like you’re so surprised. You knew how I felt about you, even when you were still human.”

 

“If that’s any consolation,” Ianto started carefully. “He loved you too. The human, I mean.”

 

“But not you?”

 

“I could learn to,” he admitted. “But... you haven’t exactly given me much, Jack.”

 

“I was shocked, at first. Now, I mostly don’t see what would be the point. You know,” he suddenly met Ianto’s mildly confused gaze. “When I was waiting for the Doctor, I contacted UNIT a lot. All through the twentieth century, I tried to learn as much as I could about Time Lords.”

 

“Did you now.” It wasn’t exactly a question, but Jack kept going anyway. “Yes, I did. And if there’s one thing I learnt about their nature...” His eyes were suddenly fixed at some point over Ianto’s shoulder and he smiled sadly. “...is that they are possessive creatures.”

 

Ianto frowned. “What do you–”

 

“Ianto!” He nearly jumped a foot in the air when the Doctor’s hand landed on his shoulder. “What are you still doing here? Martha wanted you to arrange – sorry, am I interrupting something?”

 

“No,” Ianto said quickly. “Not at all.”

 

“Good, because Martha asked if you could arrange the seats; you’re good with organising and all, and once we arrive–”

 

Ianto laughed. If Gwen had trapped him in endless wedding planning, then so could Martha – even if they would set it up on the spot. “Where are we going, actually?”

 

“London, the 23rd century. It’s legal by then, and they’re all from London, so I decided it could be a good idea.”

 

“It is,” Ianto said and, as he went to tell the people they could get in the TARDIS and to greet the bride and meet the grooms, he threw one last look at Jack, only to see him stare at him and the Doctor with some expression between quiet acceptance and bitter amusement.

 

**o.O.o**

The ceremony itself was beautiful. Even Ianto, who wasn’t exactly a wedding person, had to admit that much. It seemed to be a specifically arranged ritual that the three participants took equal roles in, and it was fascinating to watch. Martha was – just as he had expected – a beautiful bride. The dress wasn’t anything too puffy; it was simple, all silk except for the cascade of little crystals that fell from her shoulder to her waist. Her hair was done up – courtesy of Gwen, Ianto supposed – and there was a small crown on her head so she shone between Tom and Mickey as they all listened to the priest – or whatever passed for one two centuries after their time – tell them the vows Ianto had heard so many times.

 

The after party was something Ianto wasn’t all that sure about – especially when it came to the lemonade he had decided to try and had given up on moments later – but, since it was out of time and the guests weren’t all that many – just Martha’s family, Gwen, Jack, Ianto and the Doctor – it was all they could have done, and it was in the middle of it that Ianto felt the Doctor nearing him after he’d went to congratulate the newlyweds.

 

“Martha said to get them home,” he said, sitting down next to his companion. “So go gather the crowd and get them back in the TARDIS.”

 

Ianto just nodded and had the pleasure of seeing the control room of the TARDIS full of people for once, especially since he got to explain everything about the ‘bigger on the inside’ part to Gwen (he supposed she’d been a bit busy with last minute corrections on Martha’s dress and things like that to notice it the first time around) and enjoy the laughter that reigned around them while it lasted.

 

Soon enough, Martha neared them too to get her goodbye and Ianto gave them both a hug, carefully not looking towards Jack as the man got out of the TARDIS and back into twenty first century Cardiff.

 

“You don’t feel like doing it, eh?” Gwen asked softly. “You know. Talking to him.”

 

Ianto shook his head. “What would be the point?”

 

She took a deep breath and seemed ready to give him a piece of her mind, but Martha just said, “Maybe it’s for the best.” and Ianto looked up at her gratefully to see her smile. “Bye, Ianto. See you around, yeah?”

 

He managed a smile in response. “Whenever you’d like.”

 

As everyone said goodbye to the Doctor and got out, Ianto stared through the open door, unable to stop himself from searching for the familiar figure until he gritted his teeth and turned around, leaning against the console.

 

“Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away.” The Doctor’s voice was gentle and Ianto smiled, his eyes almost hurting from the tears they wanted but couldn’t produce for whatever reason. Ianto had realised long ago that it was especially when he desperately wanted an outlet for his grief, the tears wouldn’t come.

 

“’The Great Gatsby’?” He asked softly. “I didn’t really know it was your sort of thing.”

 

“Oh, Ianto.” There was something Ianto couldn’t identify in the Doctor’s tone. “There’s so much you don’t know about me.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters just get longer and longer. Not that I protest too much, mind. I hope you like this; I was heading for fluffy and made it angsty instead. It’s time to accept it. I can’t write fluff, so... I hope you enjoy it!

**_ Colour: Green _ **

**_ Prompt: An emerald necklace _ **

 

The Doctor kept the light pressure of his hand over Ianto’s as he slowly lowered the lever. “Come on,” he encouraged gently. “Pull, then twist it sideways.” When Ianto did as told, he gave him a pleased smile, even though from their position – he had plastered himself against Ianto’s back – the younger Time Lord couldn’t see it. “Very good. Now, that over there.” He pointed at a button and a small screen on Ianto’s left. “Think of the exact place and time you want to arrive at and the coordinates will show up. Then turn the Vortex Substractor all the way around three times and we’ll land.” Ianto turned around enough to grin at him – there was a frankly alarming glint in his eyes – and then pressed the button. The coordinates started flickering on the screen and, before the Doctor could think them through and stop him, Ianto had landed the TARDIS surprisingly smoothly. The Doctor frowned at the screen. “Earth.” He wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not. “The 42nd century. What do you want to come here for?”

 

Ianto smiled again and picked up his jacket from where he’d thrown it on one of the chairs. “Nice place to be from what I’ve heard. Nice _time_ to be, mostly.” His eyes were still unusually bright and the Doctor squinted.

 

“What are you plotting?” He asked suspiciously and his doubts intensified when Ianto just blinked innocently at him. “Me? I never have any ulterior motives. You know me well enough by now.”

 

“Yes, I do,” the Doctor sighed. “Which is why I’m so worried. Come on, then, let’s see if you’ve managed it.”

 

**o.O.o**

He turned out to have managed it just fine, as it was, and they ended up on the birthday of one of the most notable historical figures either of them had ever encountered, which in itself led to their current situation.

 

Helen, empress of the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire, held the Doctor’s hands in a tight grip as they waited for the music to start. She kept the same small, pleasant smile on her face and he was quite sure that it wasn’t some form of pretence. From what he knew about her as a person, she had been a much loved ruler and had managed to please even the farthest planets of her empire.

 

The portraits he’d seen in the hallway definitely did her justice too, the Doctor thought. She was beautiful, especially by the standards of the society she lived in – medium height, long dark blond hair and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a long ceremonial dress and was covered in all sorts of trinkets from head to toe.

 

“Is your partner a jeweller, by any chance?” Helen asked, pulling him out of his thoughts, as the first notes of a song that sounded vaguely familiar began to play. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “You mean Ianto? He isn’t, no. Why?” She had danced with Ianto minutes ago – she had insisted to have a go with both of them, because she’d considered having Time Lords at her birthday the most exotic gift anyone could make her – and from what the Doctor had been able to see, they had had an animated conversation, which was distressing in itself. Ianto tended to cause chaos by saying several words to the wrong person, even if the topic they had – apparently – discussed seemed innocent enough.

 

“I was just wondering,” the empress continued and the Doctor recognised the song as Cherry Bomb, which wasn’t really all that surprising; all things considered, it was probably an ancient classic by now “He just seemed to be really intrigued by my necklace. It’s a birthday gift from the Disheerons and he was simply enchanted.”

 

The Doctor’s gaze dropped to the jewel in question and he realised that it was indeed intriguing. The three emeralds – one in the centre, and two more on its sides – were almost too big for the fine artwork that was the rest of the necklace – and what was, as far as he could tell, first quality platinum.

 

“He asked me what its worth would be in the twenty-first century and I wasn’t sure what to say. I mean, it would be practically priceless, wouldn’t it? It would be better than anything they’ve seen before.”

 

The Doctor just nodded mournfully at that, gradually realising just what was happening here. Helen – poor, clever Helen – wouldn’t be the first one he’d have seen to fall for that kind of thing coming from Ianto, and she probably wouldn’t be the last, which made the powerlessness he felt all the bigger.

 

From the several months they’ve been travelling together, Ianto had stolen several potentially history-changing artefacts from here and there and even the Doctor wasn’t sure what he was doing it for, but he had tried to live with it. This, though, was going too far and as soon as he sat down next to the man in question, he went straight to the point. “You are not stealing the Empress’s birthday gift,” he said under his breath – just loud enough for Ianto to hear him – and the younger Time Lord’s lips curled into a smile.

 

“It’s not theft if I want it as a gift for someone else.”

 

“It’s not a proper gift if you’ve stolen it!”

 

“It is if nobody knows!”

 

The Doctor closed his eyes and sighed in exasperation. One day, just one day, he would say ‘no’ to Ianto’s ridiculous ideas, but he suspected that it wouldn’t be today. He could hardly resist even when he threw as much as a look in Ianto’s direction. He wasn’t doing anything special – just poking his food around his plate and occasionally throwing a glimpse in his direction from the corner of his eye. The Doctor groaned in frustration. “You said it’ll be a gift. Who do you want to give it to?”

 

Ianto’s face lit up. “Actually, my sister. Green is her favourite colour and she loves gemstones, but she could just never afford–”

 

“Your _sister_?” The Doctor interrupted. “Ianto, now you’ve opened the watch, she doesn’t even remember you. She was a part of your cover story, nothing more. She’s never even had a brother; you can’t just walk into her house and give her that!”

 

Ianto shook his head. “She doesn’t remember me, no, but she remembers something. I’ve went to talk to her once,” he admitted sheepishly. “You were out and I decided to go and visit her and... it’s like there’s something missing. Even she doesn’t know what it is, I can see it, but she knows that she’s lost someone, even if it’s a brother she doesn’t remember. And she’s always wanted something like that, and her husband is dumb as a brick so, as you can guess, he doesn’t have the best paid job. I just want her to have something nice. And she won’t even see me,” he hurried to add when the Doctor opened his mouth to protest. “I promise.”

 

And really, the Doctor thought, when he was looking at him like _that_ , how could he resist?

 

**o.O.o**

Empress Helen, he had to admit, was rather careless when it came to her jewellery. The Doctor had picked the lock of the room where she kept all of the more pricey gifts from the night before – good thing that wood wasn’t very popular at this day and age, so the screwdriver did its job perfectly – and they spotted the necklace in the moment they were in, so it didn’t really take Ianto long to snatch it from its place and the Doctor turned around to the door, ready to get out as quickly as possible.

 

It was locked.

 

He fiddled with the sonic, panic already raising its head, but to no avail. Nothing worked and, really, they should have realised that it couldn’t be that easy. He motioned to Ianto to come closer and tried to explain the situation through gestures.

 

Ianto closed his eyes and mouthed a curse feelingly, before giving the Doctor a look that could only be translated to, “What now?”

 

He looked around – there had to be another exit – then pointed at the opposite end of the room. Another door, this time slightly ajar. Ianto shook his head and just mouthed, “Bedroom.”

 

Helen’s bedroom, apparently, but they didn’t really have much of a choice and the Doctor shrugged and made for the door, hoping that his companion would get the hint.

 

As soon as they got in the room, he realised that the Empress was in her bed, sound asleep and unsuspecting that the most honoured guests of her birthday party were trying to get out of her room without triggering fifty different alarms. When he sought Ianto in the darkness, the Doctor realised that he was still clutching the necklace in his hand.

 

He tried to make one more step but was suddenly pressed against the wall, a hand flying over his face and settling onto his mouth. After the initial shock of the perspective that they’d been found and would get locked up for the rest of their days, he realised that it was Ianto’s free hand and that it was stopping him from making any noise as Helen turned in her sleep and burrowed further under her blanket.

 

Ianto didn’t move for several more seconds, waiting for her breathing to finally go back to the relaxed rhythm of sleep, and the Doctor could feel his hearts racing from where his wrist was pressed against his cheek. Ianto was barely breathing and had pressed himself against the wall, trying to blend with it as much as he could. A few more moments passed and the Doctor dared to move as quietly as he could. When the Empress didn’t look like she might wake up, the both of them made their way to the TARDIS and the Doctor found himself hoping that there were no cameras in her private chambers.

 

**o.O.o**

“We almost got caught,” he said as soon as the door had closed behind them. Ianto didn’t pay him much attention, still admiring the necklace in his hand with a small smile. “You’re really good at sneaking through high-security rooms, though.” Still no response. “Ianto... what did you do, exactly, that made the Council send you to Earth?”

 

Ianto finally looked at him and laughed. “It wasn’t because of burglary, you can be sure of it,” he said, but the Doctor didn’t give up. The question had been bugging him very since they’d started travelling together and, as much as he told himself that it didn’t matter, he couldn’t help it. “I’m not going to tell you.” Ianto’s voice suggested that it was something obvious and the Doctor raised an eyebrow, “Why not?”

 

Ianto avoided his pointed gaze and licked his lips, then locked their eyes together. “Because you’re going to hate me by the end of the story, and I don’t think I can stand seeing that.” The words were almost inaudible and the Doctor smiled and carefully pulled him closer and into an embrace. “Never,” he vowed. “Nothing you can say could possibly make me hate you.”

 

Ianto took a deep breath and the Doctor didn’t say anything; just waited. He knew that an explanation would follow now that the other Time Lord had decided to open up.

 

“What do you know of the Black Sun War?”

The Doctor didn’t respond at first, surprised by the direction the conversation was heading in, and then said, still a little bemused, “It’s the first great Time War – long before my time, but I’ve heard of it. The Black Sun order attacked Rassilon and Omega while they worked on their first experiments with time. It’s been an unprovoked attack and by the time I left Gallifrey, it was still a mystery just what had happened.”

 

“It was me,” Ianto said, his voice heavy with an emotion that the Doctor knew very well – shame. The shame of having nearly destroyed his home world. “I happened. When I was twenty, I wanted to start working for the Council. They thought I was too young but accepted me anyway; taught me what to do and how to do it, and the diplomatic conference that took place three months after my education started was, in their opinion, a great way to test me. They sent me there; we had to discuss a lot of things with about three hundred species and I was the only one from Gallifrey. I was meant to keep them peaceful.” There was a small, bitter laugh. “But I couldn’t. Vade the Valiant – the commander of the Sontaran fleet – said that he wouldn’t listen to ‘a boy dressed in his father’s clothes’. I was expecting it, of course, so I made him listen all right, but that didn’t stop him later.

 

“Like I said, there were hundreds of species there and yet, the elephant in the room was right between the Black Sun order and the Sontaran Empire. Both had started colonising the same planet – Antuchenth. It was basically just a big rock, it didn’t even have an atmosphere, but they had managed to civilise it a bit. The Black Sun order in the East hemisphere and the Sontaran Empire in the West one, and it would take them just a few months to meet in the middle, so something had to be done. Of course, the Sontarans’s idea of solution was straight up telling the Order to get away from their planet. The leader of the Order refused and they started a fight. I tried to stop them, but you know the Sontarans – he was dead before I could get to them. Turned out they have some sort of a hive mind and the others immediately knew – and, naturally, blamed me.”

 

“It wasn’t your fault,” the Doctor hurried to put in. “There was nothing you could have done.” Ianto just shook his head and the Doctor subconsciously placed his hand over his companion’s where it was resting on the console, trying to offer comfort.

 

“When I got home, there was a trial held against me. As you can guess, no matter what the circumstances are, if you screw up that much, it’s death for you. I didn’t even protest; I knew I deserved it. Because of me, the Time Lord society would have burned before it had even been started. But there was a friend of mine – Roda, her name was – that was present, and she spoke up for me. She tried to reason with the Council; tried to tell them that it was my first assignment and that I shouldn’t have been left alone and all those things, so they did the next best thing – taking away my memories and placing them in the watch. I could take it with me and I was told that if I opened it by accident, no one would come looking for me. They even allowed me to create new memories for myself. It was an act of mercy.”

 

“No, it wasn’t.” The Doctor’s voice was soft and he searched Ianto’s face, trying to meet his eyes. “It really _wasn’t_. But, if you look at it on the bright side, you wouldn’t be alive if they hadn’t sent you away then. So I should be grateful.” Ianto looked away bashfully but didn’t say anything and the Doctor smiled. “Now! We’ve got a gift for your sister. Can you give me the exact coordinates?”

 

Ianto nodded. “Of course. I also, eh, sort of picked up some toys for her kids. From the storage room. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind.” He gestured timidly to one of the chairs around the console and the Doctor saw a life-sized and extremely detailed doll – which he wasn’t sure when and why he had taken from – and a Rubik’s Cube with twelve different colours. He’d bought it from a human colony on the other end of the Universe, but it was still human enough for the twenty first century. “I don’t mind,” he assured quickly. “Do you want to get anything for her husband, too?”

 

“Ha.”

 

The Doctor grinned. “Okay then. When do you want us to arrive?”

 

He watched as Ianto contemplated the possibilities, trying to pick a moment when he wouldn’t be seen before a smile dawned on his face too. “Christmas Eve.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, apparently it was angst time. Again. So I hope you forgive me.

**_ Colour: Blue _ **

**_ Prompts: ‘blue eyes crying in the rain’ and ‘forget-me-nots’ _ **

**__ **

It had started drizzling at first and neither the Doctor nor Ianto had thought anything of it – and now, looking at it from his current point of view, Ianto wished that they had.

 

They’d got a call – hours ago – into the TARDIS from some old friend of the Doctor’s who needed help. It had all turned out to be pretty much harmless or, well, as harmless as a Hoix could be, but the house was in the middle of nowhere, which they hadn’t taken into account when parking the TARDIS.

 

Ianto had to admit that it was a beautiful place. Earth, the twenty-first century, too, which they hadn’t visited in a while, the United States and specifically some area that had nothing but farms in it, so when the rain suddenly intensified to downright pouring, the only shelter they had was a sunshade near another house, this time accompanied by a cattle shed. It was deserted, though, so Ianto supposed that the shepherd was outside.

 

It wasn’t all that bad – they’d been much worse situations before – and yet Ianto had a feeling that they’d have to be around for quite some time.

 

**o.O.o**

The silence that had reigned upon them in the last several minutes was starting to get unnerving, especially if the Doctor took Ianto’s pensive look into account. His companion tended to overthink everything and, if he was left on his own for too long, overthinking didn’t bring anything good.

 

“It’s just a storm,” he said, mostly just for the sake of speaking. “It’ll pass and we’ll be able to get back to the TARDIS.”

 

There wasn’t really a reaction but, after a minute or two, Ianto murmured, “It’s all so blue.”

 

“Sorry?” The Doctor was genuinely confused, but not really surprised by the change of topic.

 

“Everything,” Ianto continued. He was still staring in the distance, but there was something about his voice that made the Doctor look at him properly. “The sky, those flowers, even the rain. Everything is blue. Back at home, it was red. I just miss is sometimes.” Suddenly, he looked up. “Do you remember it?”

 

“Ianto–”

 

“The mountains, the suns, and the grass – everything was red. Even my mum’s hair.” Ianto smiled fondly at something only he could see “She said that was what drew her attention to dad first – his eyes were the only blue thing in her world.”

 

The Doctor’s breath caught in his throat. The picture Ianto was painting was too real, too close to home – both literally and figuratively – and he wasn’t sure if he wanted him to stop talking or keep going forever. He had never wanted something that caused him so much pain with such intensity.

 

“What was your mother’s name?” He asked softly. Ianto threw him a surprised glance. He had apparently thought that the Doctor wouldn’t want to talk about it but in truth, it was rather refreshing to have someone like that with him. Someone who _knew,_ not just from stories and legends, but because he had been there; because he had seen it all when he was growing up.

 

“Zenis,” Ianto said at last. “Why?”

 

“Was her father, by any chance, the Shaman?”

 

Ianto nodded. “Did you know him?” The melancholy had left his eyes and now they were the usual bright blue, even bluer now when reflecting the forget-me-nots in the field in front of them.

 

“I did,” he said at last. “I’ve met your mother when she was still a child; that’s when she met Goldred. That’s your father, isn’t it?” Another nod. “They were still kids back then, never left each other alone.”

 

Ianto looked almost in pain and the Doctor sent him an inquisitive look, only to have his companion whisper, “Tell me more.”

 

“Your father wanted to work in the Archives of the Citadel, but your mother wanted to travel. She loved travelling. Her family had a TARDIS and sometimes, her father would take her with him when he went exploring the farthest ends of the Universe.”

 

“What happened?” Ianto put in. His expression was unreadable and yet the Doctor was unsure whether it was a good idea to keep going. The way Ianto’s eyes were gleaming worried him. “By the time I was born, she was working in the Matrix.”

 

“She got hurt,” the Doctor said quietly. “It was really bad; she was attacked during one of their travels. On the edges of the Universe there are foreign, wild species that even Time Lords couldn’t control. It was a planet I’ve never visited – mainly because of that, mind you, what happened was enough to keep me away from it – but whatever monsters lived there hurt her enough for her to regenerate and the Shaman never forgave himself for it. She was only eighteen by the time, and she had regenerated and, the way he saw it, it was his fault. Nothing she said or did could change his mind.

 

“It didn’t really affect Zenis, though. She just kept going, as if nothing had happened. She started working in the Matrix in the end and that’s when, I suppose, she got married to your father. Everyone was waiting for it to happen, really. I haven’t seen her since.”

 

“And...” Ianto looked like he was struggling with the words. “What about my dad? What was he like when he was young?”

 

“Oh, he was amazing. Always tried to catch up with Zenis, even when she had her maddest ideas, I’ve always liked that kid. He thought that once he started working for the Archives, he could think of an entirely new system for it to work – and I can’t say I didn’t agree with his ideas. When Zenis stopped travelling with her father, she started helping Goldred with his projects, you should have seen them. I’m not really surprised that you happen to be their offspring, mind you; you’ve got their best qualities and, let me tell you, they had a lot of those. One of the brightest examples in the Academy when they eventually started there–” The Doctor let his voice die as he suddenly turned to the unusually quiet Ianto.

 

The younger Time Lord was looking down and, even though his face was wet with the rain they had had to deal with before hiding here, the Doctor could see a lonely tear making its way down his cheeks.

 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered and inched closer to his companion, rubbing his back soothingly with one hand. Ianto didn’t acknowledge the gesture, but didn’t flinch back either, which was definitely a progress. “I didn’t want to upset you.”

 

Ianto looked up and smiled, the expression honest despite the anguish in his eyes. It was almost fascinating to see two completely different emotions peacefully separating him, and the Doctor found that he couldn’t look away. “You didn’t. I needed to hear it. It just gets a bit too much sometimes and...” He looked down, apparently unable to hold the Doctor’s gaze any longer. “It’s just us now, so.... thank you for being here for me.”

 

“Likewise,” the Doctor said quietly and this time draped his arm over Ianto’s shoulders as they both stared at the field before them, peace finally settling down.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry for the enormous delay on this. I was on a holiday, then I got back but school happened and... well. It’s also not that much of a good idea to manage two multi-chaptered fanfics at the same time.   
> Anyway, there are just a few chapters left from this so I hope you enjoy this one. I’m trying to make it go in the right direction without rushing it and I like to think that it’s working. As always, feel welcome to let me know what you think of it.

**_ Colour: Purple _ **

**_ Prompt: Under a violet moon _ **

**__ **

If there was one thing the Doctor had learnt about Ianto during their travels, it was that he was in love with the Universe. Every planet, every star and every Galaxy was new and unique to him and he found everything so incredibly fascinating that it never failed to bring a smile to the Doctor’s lips.

 

Today was no different. He watched Ianto as the younger Time Lord followed him out of the TARDIS and saw the delight on his face as he took in their surroundings.

 

“Where are we?” he asked immediately and his eyes fixed on the large violet moon right above their heads. It was already close to night time and that made it even more enchanting, he supposed, because Ianto seemed unable to take his eyes off it.

 

“Petrinax, in Mutter’s Spiral. Not so far from Earth, really; only a few systems away. It’s just like Earth, too, except bigger. And of course, there’s–”

 

“The moon,” Ianto breathed. The Doctor chanced a look in his direction. He was bathed in the violet light that surrounded them from everywhere. He seemed strangely ethereal as he stared up at it and every detail of his face stood out; his eyelashes brushing his high cheekbones, his skin even paler than usual and his clothes and hair shining enough to make him look like the stuff of legends; something he was privileged to see in the real world.

 

“So what’s happened here?” Ianto asked and the Doctor firmly derailed the train of thought he’d seemed to have had going in a rather suspicious direction.

 

“What?” He was taken aback for a second. “No, that was just... you know, I thought we could–” All of a sudden, he wasn’t so sure in his motives any longer. “You know. We could just– relax for a bit.”

 

“Oh.” Ianto was apparently unprepared for that response and the Doctor idly wondered when had been the last time he’d done something for fun’s sake and not out of duty. Spending your whole adult life fighting for queen and country could do that to someone, he supposed – and god, did he hate that phrase ever since the Canary Wharf battle had happened – and Ianto was now rather unaware that he was free to do as he pleased with his life. “Okay, then. Relax it is.”

 

He left his place by the TARDIS and strode into the field before them, now rambling about all the planet species he recognised and the ones they’d had in the hot house back at Torchwood and a million other things that, he knew, would bore anyone else out of sheer lack of understanding. The Doctor, though, didn’t feel even close to being bored. He was used to being the one who always gave that kind of information; the one who led the bewildered humans into the species and planets they had been unable to even imagine. And even if he did know everything that his companion was talking about, it was a delight to realise that someone out there was just as excited about it all as he was. Sure, humans liked it all too, but that was all – they missed the small details because they liked the flashy grand picture. Ianto, on the other hand, knew all about the Universe. He knew what made it tick, and what fascinated him were the small things, the Doctor realised as he watched him take samples from some species – plant-like, even if they actually happened to be animals – that he hadn’t recognised and wanted to experiment with back in the TARDIS. Maybe that was why Ianto was so excited to talk so much about everything. There was finally someone who understood it all.

 

As if he’d heard his thoughts, Ianto let his speech come to an end and turned back to face the Doctor with a small smile.

 

“But you already know that, don’t you?” He carefully closed the lid of the jar where he’d put the resin from the last tree and approached the other Time Lord. I keep forgetting that you’ve been out here for centuries and I’ve got, what, a year and a half in total on my hands?”

 

“It’s fine,” the Doctor assured him. “Did you take what you needed?”

 

“Yeah.” Ianto nodded down to his hands where he was carefully balancing all the samples he’d taken. “I need to bring them back to the laboratory; I wanted to try a few things... but never mind that now,” he added hastily when the Doctor narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Ianto’s experiments rarely took a good turn. Actually, the TARDIS had had to patiently replace said laboratory at least five times until now. “Can we,” Ianto seemed to hesitate with the next sentence. “I mean, would you mind if we could stay here for a while? It’s beautiful and it might just be the only time it won’t end with a disaster.”

 

He should have never said that, the Doctor thought mournfully later.

 

“Hey! What are you doing there? This is the Empress’s land!”

 

They both turned around to face the guard and the Doctor managed a wave. And here they had been, enjoying the calmness of it all, not having even thought of the fact that it might have been because it was forbidden. “Hello!” he said cheerfully, ignoring Ianto’s hisses to just stay where he was. “By ‘the Empress’s land’, do you mean the planet or those gardens? Because I happen to know for a fact– ”

The man in front of him raised his gun. “Look, I’m sure we can deal with this peacefully. My ship just happened to land–”

 

“Doctor!” Ianto just managed to push him out of the way just as another guard behind them fired and he turned around to see the younger Time Lord stuff in the pockets of his jacket only the samples that were most important to him before he took the Doctor’s hand.

 

And they ran.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Colour: Black_ **

**_Prompt: buttoned black shirt_ **

**__ **

The Doctor had learnt to get used to the variety of Ianto’s shirts and the meaning behind their colours fairly quickly. It hadn’t been all that hard, really; he’d only had to pay attention and soon enough, it became as clear as it could get.

 

Pink meant a regular day; it meant that Ianto was calm and relaxed and in a particularly good mood. Green meant broody and mysterious. White meant sorrow. Red meant that the Doctor would have to expect trouble and Ianto would act like an intergalactic Casanova. Dar blue meant business. Yellow was like a warning that shouted ‘Keep away!’ to the entire Universe. Purple meant playful and the Doctor usually had to be extra careful around him and tell him on random intervals to keep his hands to himself and calm down – whether it was because he tended to touch the wrong people at the wrong places or because he reached for a gun every time someone tried to breathe in his direction. He was always keen to carry the gun and, as much as the Doctor disapproved, nothing could convince him otherwise.

 

Black, though, was new. Black was unfamiliar and he wasn’t sure what to expect.

 

“Hello there.” Just like usual, Ianto had sensed him coming. “Are we ready? You said you could get us straight into their base.”

 

“Of course I can.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I just don’t know why you’re doing this.” There was no response as Ianto kept grooming his hair. “Why torture yourself? You only just stopped constantly thinking about Torchwood, so why would you go back?”

 

“I have to know.” There was urgency in Ianto’s voice as he swirled around to face the Doctor. “I’ve been dying to know for years. Don’t tell me you’re not curious.” There was a challenge in Ianto’s voice and, when the older Time Lord still seemed unmoved, he kept going. “Come on! Torchwood Five – lost in time, and we finally found it! You can’t _not_ be interested.”

 

“Fair enough,” the Doctor conceded. “How are you planning on getting in?”

 

“Well, I never did quit Torchwood,” Ianto said with renewed enthusiasm as he neared him. “My codes should still work.”

 

Suddenly, the Doctor found himself crowded against the door of Ianto’s room. He scolded himself for the momentary lack of attention – after all, he hadn’t figured out what the shirt meant yet, and anything unexpected about his companion was potentially risky – and stepped back, but to no avail. There was a rather suspicious look in Ianto’s eyes.

 

“Why are you so afraid of Torchwood?” He asked quietly. “I know, Canary Wharf and all that, but I was there too, and I kept going. What is it about Torchwood that scares you enough to make you – the man who never backs out of anything – avoid it like the plague?”

 

“Canary Wharf wasn’t just a bad day for me,” the Doctor replied, voice icy. “I lost someone there. Someone I loved.”

 

“So did I,” Ianto said quietly and, the Doctor noted, rather alarmed, didn’t back off. “And I’m sorry for your loss, but if there’s one thing about Torchwood I can tell you, it’s that we’re not monsters. We fight them. And we–”

 

“– never leave.”

 

The younger Time Lord seemed taken aback. “Sorry?”

 

“You keep saying ‘we’,” the Doctor pointed out. “And, really, even if all your codes are still working, you’re not working there any longer. It’s supposed to be ‘them’, but it’s not. You still consider yourself to be a part of Torchwood, even after everything they did to you.”

 

“I chose that job!” Ianto objected heatedly and the Doctor idly wondered how many times he’d had the same conversation with Jack. He didn’t mention anything about it, though; it might have been too cruel.

 

“And you meant well. I know. You wanted to fight the monsters but sometimes, Ianto, just sometimes, that can backfire and then you lose control.”

 

“Me in particular or just the Torchwood folk in general?” Ianto asked. However he’d planned on having that conversation go, he’d let it go now in favour of exploring the new topic and the Doctor didn’t know if he had to be grateful or disappointed.

 

Also, he noted forlornly to himself, while the exact meaning of a black shirt was still unknown, it was dangerous. Definitely dangerous.

 

“Torchwood in general, of course. After all, they’re only human. But you–”

 

“I was human too. At the time, anyway. Do you think I was a monster too?” Ianto’s eyes were unreadable and stony, just like usual, and the Doctor almost felt compelled to look away.

 

 

“No.” When he spoke, his voice was gentle and he felt his companion relaxing, if only minutely. “No, I don’t. I think that you were a machine; detached, calculating, a silent witness of the Universe rather than a participant in it. You’re still the same and, in a way, you’re the perfect Time Lord.” Ianto smiled proudly and the Doctor returned it, even if his answering smile was rather bitter. “And that isn’t necessarily a compliment. Haven’t you ever wanted to be a part of something? Anything?”

 

“I was a part of my team,” Ianto said slowly, biting his lip, but his eyes kept wandering around the room as he tried to separate the consciousness of Ianto Jones with his own. “We caught the aliens – we often killed them as well. Is that not taking part of the world?”

 

“If the only thing that made you a part of the world was killing and fighting, then how are you any different from the monsters?”

 

The exchange of the several past minutes felt a bit like a tennis match and when Ianto suddenly stared at him, eyes wide with realisation and horror, the Doctor felt rather guilty for bringing it up at all. Yes, Ianto had started the topic, but he’d carried it on out of sheer fear of Torchwood and the creatures it spawned, even if one of them was the only one of his species in the Universe.

 

“Whoever fights monsters,” Ianto started quietly after a short pause, and he looked haunted, “should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

 

“And this is why we give everyone a choice or a second chance,” the Doctor said and he sounded centuries older even to his own ears. “Everyone. Even the monsters.” He patted Ianto on the shoulder gently and then turned into a soothing caress. “Ready?”

 

There was barely a moment before Ianto nodded, the fire rekindled in his eyes. “Ready.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. This is all shippy and strange and I actually think that there’s a fair bit of character study that went into it; even into the parts with Lisa and Jack. I thought about getting them to kiss as well, but then decided that it was going to kill the effect I wanted it to have, so... I hope you like it, mind, even if it is rather short. As usual, feedback is appreciated.

**_Colour: Brown_ **

**_Prompt: an empty field_ **

****

The sky was clear and – for the first time in a while – blue. They hadn’t visited Earth in quite some time and Ianto realised that he had actually missed it, even if the only memories he had from here were the ones as a human. As foggy as some of them were, he remembered the small planet – so far away from his home and yet so significant, given the potential of its habitants and the thousands of colonies they would build in the future – with fondness and he found that he was happy to be back here.

 

He was lying down on his back on the ground – there wasn’t even grass, only the brown earth and the remnants of last year’s harvest – and was surprisingly not bothered about the state of his clothes for once. His eyes were locked on the sky and there was another surprising thing today – there wasn’t a cloud to be seen and Ianto smiled. Usually, he associated Cardiff and Wales in general with the rain and the heavy gray skies that hung over it, but now he could remember the days that had been like that as well.

 

The first time he’d had a proper picnic, it had been with Lisa. She’d chosen the Welsh countryside, saying that she wanted to see first had what it was that Wales boasted so much about when it came to nature. She’d said that it was beautiful, but that it still couldn’t beat London and she had been so open and honest and so fundamentally different from him and he’d loved her for it.

 

Later – almost two years later, really – it had been Jack. It had all been very hesitant and gentle and the Captain had initiated it, saying that proper dating included picnics and that if they were going to do this, they had to do it by the book. Ianto had laughed at that, only to have Jack admit rather nervously – which had been, in all honesty, as endearing as it could get – that the last time he’d dated properly had been almost a decade before Ianto had even been born, which had only made the man in question laugh even harder. Jack had looked so solemn and determined to do things right that Ianto had leant in and kissed him full on the lips, stopping his instructions and plans mid-sentence.

 

It was a good sign, Ianto decided, that he could look back at Lisa and Jack and see the good times – especially now as he was back in twenty-first century Wales, even if it was just for a while. Neither of them was stained in his memories any longer; he’d got over the anger and the pain and all that was left was the warmth they had both given him. Jack had been right when they’d last met, he supposed; those memories didn’t even belong to him completely. He hadn’t truly lived through them; it was Ianto Jones, who had been young and foolish – which was very much like him – but he’d also been human, and painfully so. That was what he lacked now, probably. The humanity in him had burned along with the rest of the man he’d created before leaving Gallifrey. He found it in the Doctor sometimes because the Doctor was merciful. He never killed unless he didn’t have a choice unlike Ianto himself who was, frankly, a warrior and could hardly be taught to be anything else now. That was why they worked so well together, or so Ianto thought; they could balance each other.

 

The Doctor was lying next to him now and Ianto smiled at the familiar presence as he glanced sideways to look at him.

 

“You know,” the older Time Lord started and Ianto held back an amused sigh. He’d realised long ago that the man couldn’t stay silent for more than thirty seconds. It wasn’t a bad thing, though; not when one considered that he always had something good to say. “You’re really close to home right now.”

 

Ianto knew what he meant, but the words resonated differently in his mind. His eyes wandered up to the TARDIS behind them and then he met the Doctor’s warm brown ones as he blindly sought his hand and gripped it lightly.

 

“Yes,” he said quietly, feeling strangely free of any burden for what was probably the first time in his life. “Yes, I think I am.”


End file.
